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Usage and history

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Heritage

Era(s)

Affiliation

"If you get to your rivals before they're ready, you can do anything you want—including assassination.""It sounds like a bloodbath.""Normally we keep it low-key, for order's sake. Poisonings. A shikkar blade in the gut."

Shikkars were intricate, Force-crafted daggers made out of glass that were created and used by the Sith by the time following the Hundred-Year Darkness. Shikkars had long, elegant blades and were prized amongst the Lost Tribe of Sith on the planetKesh for their artistic value as well as their role as weapons. They were made for one single usage—after a shikkar was used to stab someone, the hilt was broken off, leaving the blade embedded in the victim's body. Since the manner of death suffered by shikkar was exceptionally painful, many Sith considered it an insulting form of assassination. The weapons were crafted and employed often by members of three rival glass-crafting guilds on Kesh. Tura Sanga was famous among the Sith Tribe for crafting shikkars, and the Sith Seelah Korsin owned a shikkar that had been made by Kesh's nativeKeshiri.

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"The shikkar is the tool of assassins. It can be as long as a forearm, yet it is easily concealed beneath robes. A twist of the handle after stabbing a victim will snap the glassy blade off and leave it to fester beneath the skin."

Shikkars were daggers that were crafted from glass with the application of the Force. They had intricate, elegant blades[3] that were up to at least ten centimeters in length[6]—about as long as a Humanforearm[1]—and about the width of a Human finger.[4] The blades could be straight[1] or curved.[7] The hilt of the weapon was also designed to be long and narrow, and at least one shikkar was colored black and white.[4] The weapons could easily be carried hidden beneath a being's robes.[1] Shikkars were valued by the Lost Tribe of Sith on the planetKesh for their artistic virtues as much as they were for their use as weapons.[6]

The daggers were made to be used just once, and although the apparent frailty of the weapons as a whole was misleading, the point where the blade met the hilt was particularly fragile.[4] After the weapon was used to stab someone, the hilt was twisted and snapped off,[1] leaving the glass blade in the victim's body so as to cause as much pain as possible.[6] As such, some Sith considered the use of the weapon to be particularly insulting to the target, and shikkars were frequently used as a means of getting revenge.[8] Also, due to the fact that shikkars were made out of nothing but glass, they could pass through sensors undetected.[4]

In 5000 BBY, a group of Sith crash-landed on the remote planet Kesh after their vessel, the Omen, was knocked off-course during a hyperspace jump. The survivors were stranded there, unable to call for help or rebuild their ship, and they quickly formed a new Sith Tribe.[3] Shikkars were crafted and used by members of the Tribe; Seelah Korsin, wife of the Tribe's Grand Lord, Yaru Korsin, owned a shikkar fashioned for her by the Keshiri—the natives of Kesh.[2] By 3960 BBY, members of the Sith Tribe often used shikkars for advancement opportunities; Sith employed the glass daggers to subtly assassinate rivals in order to ensure their own rise within the ranks of the Tribe.[9] Sometime before 3000 BBY, one member of the Tribe tried to assassinate another Sith with his shikkar, but he had improperly constructed his sheath, and the blade fell into his ankle. The wound became infected, and the Sith died within a month.[10]

In 3000 BBY, Sith CaretakerVarner Hilts used a shikkar owned by fellow Sith Iliana Merko to cut into the command chair in the crashed Omen to retrieve a hidden message to the Yaru Korsin from his mother, Takara.[10]Millennia later, in 41 ABY, shikkars were still owned by several members of the Lost Tribe,[3] who considered them to be noble weapons.[4] By that time, shikkars were commonly utilized by the members of the three Sith guilds that held an oligopoly on the profession of sculpting glass in the Kesh capitalcity of Tahv. Those guilds crafted shikkars and other valuable objects out of glass formed from the planet's lavender sands. Members of the guilds often used their shikkars in attempts to assassinate rival guild members; to counter such attacks, the guilds began employing bodyguards for protection.[3]

Khai's father, the Sith SaberGavar Khai, owned a full personal collection of shikkars on Kesh. In 44 ABY, he presented one of his shikkars to Vestara in the hope that she would be able to use it to kill either Skywalker or his son, Jedi KnightBen Skywalker. The shikkar that he gave to her had been fashioned by the Force-sensitiveTura Sanga, who was an exceptionally famous shikkar-craftsman and whose style of shikkars was decidedly unique.[4] Gavar Khai attempted to kill the elder Skywalker with a shikkar when a duel broke out at the Pool of KnowledgeForce nexus, but the attempt failed.[11] Later, when the dark side entity Abeloth proposed an alliance with the Sith Tribe to defeat their mutual enemy, the Jedi, she was invited to Tahv. There, several shikkars were created specifically for the celebration that was held in her honor. However, Abeloth betrayed the Sith and attacked the capital, destroying buildings, killing thousands of residents, and using her Force powers to send shikkars flying through the city with the intent of causing harm.[12] The Jedi later embarked on a mission to defeat the Sith on the galactic capital planet Coruscant; during the mission, Vestara Khai stabbed Sith Master Ruku Myal with his own shikkar.[8]